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CAIRO An Unequal Struggle During his first four years in office President Hosni Mubarak has struggled mightily to redress Egypt’s economic balance. But, as he begins the last two years of his term, the battle seems to be a losing one. Of all his problems, the demographic arithmetic is the most threatening. The Egyptian population is gròwing by 2.7 per cent a year and is close to fifty million, which means that every ten months there are a million more mouths to feed. At the same time the country is falling behind in its attempt to increase agricultural acreage and therefore grow a greater proportion of its food, of which it now must import 50 per cent in contrast to the exportable surpluses it used to produce. Although a considerable amount of land has been reclaimed from the desert for cultivation, more has been lost to the growing urban sprawl of Cairo and Alexandria. The news is bad, too, on the financial front. Receipts from both oil exports and the Suez Canal tolls have fallen considerably. Money repatriated by Egyptian nationals abroad has also declined. The Egyptian pound suffers from strong inflationary pressure and was subjected, to a de facto devaluation of 40 per cent in the first eight months of last year. Even more alarming, Egyptian credit has begun to lose its appeal in the international market. Indeed, it is widely expected that the Egyptian international debt will have to be rescheduled soon because of doubt about the country’s ability to maintain its current rate of repayment.

PARIS Chers Lecteurs The newspaper Le Monde, influential though trouble-beset, has succeeded in the novel venture of raising money from its readers by selling them shares in the enterprise. The faithful lecteurs bought enough shares at five hundred francs ($67) a throw to raise a total of 15 million francs ($2 million), which will help the paper climb back to solvency. The shares represent 12.5 per cent of the total. Last year Le Monde showed an operating loss of 67 million francs (almost $9 million). But with the sale of its offices in the Rue des Italiens, staff cuts, and other streamlining measures, Le Monde hopes to show a small operating profit for 1985. The paper has deeply entrenched support among French middle-class intellectuals, especially teachers and bureaucrats. Its small type, densely packed columns, lengthy articles, and lack of photographs make it a media anomaly. It has lost some of its old credit since President Mitterrand’s election on suspicion of being something of a mouthpiece for his socialist government.

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CAIRO An Unequal Struggle During his first four years in office President Hosni Mubarak has struggled mightily to redress Egypt’s economic balance. But, as he begins the last two years of his term, the battle seems to be a losing one. Of all his problems, the demographic arithmetic is the most threatening. The Egyptian population is gròwing by 2.7 per cent a year and is close to fifty million, which means that every ten months there are a million more mouths to feed. At the same time the country is falling behind in its attempt to increase agricultural acreage and therefore grow a greater proportion of its food, of which it now must import 50 per cent in contrast to the exportable surpluses it used to produce. Although a considerable amount of land has been reclaimed from the desert for cultivation, more has been lost to the growing urban sprawl of Cairo and Alexandria. The news is bad, too, on the financial front. Receipts from both oil exports and the Suez Canal tolls have fallen considerably. Money repatriated by Egyptian nationals abroad has also declined. The Egyptian pound suffers from strong inflationary pressure and was subjected, to a de facto devaluation of 40 per cent in the first eight months of last year. Even more alarming, Egyptian credit has begun to lose its appeal in the international market. Indeed, it is widely expected that the Egyptian international debt will have to be rescheduled soon because of doubt about the country’s ability to maintain its current rate of repayment.

PARIS Chers Lecteurs The newspaper Le Monde, influential though trouble-beset, has succeeded in the novel venture of raising money from its readers by selling them shares in the enterprise. The faithful lecteurs bought enough shares at five hundred francs ($67) a throw to raise a total of 15 million francs ($2 million), which will help the paper climb back to solvency. The shares represent 12.5 per cent of the total. Last year Le Monde showed an operating loss of 67 million francs (almost $9 million). But with the sale of its offices in the Rue des Italiens, staff cuts, and other streamlining measures, Le Monde hopes to show a small operating profit for 1985. The paper has deeply entrenched support among French middle-class intellectuals, especially teachers and bureaucrats. Its small type, densely packed columns, lengthy articles, and lack of photographs make it a media anomaly. It has lost some of its old credit since President Mitterrand’s election on suspicion of being something of a mouthpiece for his socialist government.